I’ve had two sits now where the dog behaviour has been ‘challenging’. However we are a couple so we’re better able to support each other, it’s harder if you sit solo and encounter unexpected issues be they pet or home related.
The other cause that nobody has mentioned is a rat turning up in the vicinity, or local foxes (in England it’s mating season right now).
None of us are there with you so it’s hard to guess any of a dozen possible causes. One thing about sitting though is self sufficiency, trying out different solutions, always being hopeful that one will work…..given time. Resilience is a sitter quality, although good decision making is equally important in impossible contexts. Let us know what happens please. I wish you well.
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I’m not sure if it has been mentioned, but is the dog distracted by something outside at night (fox, hedgehog, ghost etc)? In which case perhaps closing the curtains/blinds so s/he can’t nudge them open, also perhaps some white noise (there are plenty of very long white noise vids on youtube, or detune a radio) can block out any sounds that are disturbing the dog.
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I don’t know I’m trying to do the best I can.
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I know I wish I had company but I don’t and I usually prefer the solitude but not this time .
Anyway the host is coming back today after only completing a week of their vacation which was supposed to be a month I bet they give me a bad review which will now be my second. 
I expect they will give you a bad review having had to cut their holiday short, however bravo to you for standing up for yourself and make sure you mention the issues you had in your review of the hosts.
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I sat a couple of dogs, one older, smaller, one younger german shepherd mix. It wanted out and in every 5 minutes for the first couple of days. It really wanted to play fetch but torn acl didn’t allow it. I started taking it for long walks, by itself, without the older one and the behavior changed dramatically. Totally calmed down.
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@Henry_R That won’t be the case if you simply state the fact that the dog barks at night. Don’t state how you felt about it or how you handled it, simply sandwich it in between positives about the sit.
Something like this:
“Home was clean and Rover is a sweet dog that loves activity. The neighborhood is safe and has quiet streets for our walks. Rover barked during the overnights during my stay. The home was clean and comfortable, and the hosts have good communication skills…”
Something like this states the fact, doesn’t dwell on it, praises the sit for its positive attributes, and – most importantly-- gives future sitters a heads up, so they can ask the HOs about Rover’s barking during the pre-confirmation video chat.
Just a thought. Thanks for listening.
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I do know you are. I hope it works out for our you.
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Well I left the sit! The hosts came home and got there at 3 am. Despite the inconvenience of having to cut their trip short by 3 weeks they seemed happy to be home and were very pleasant and satisfied with the condition I left the home although they commented that their dog didn’t seem to be acting quite himself.
They dropped me at the train station and that was that. I contacted them yesterday and asked to please give me a positive review and do a screenshot so I can write my review accordingly, including whether to mention the barking because if they mentioned it then I would need to defend myself.
They said there is no reason to do any screenshot and there is no reason to be worried about a negative review because they wanted to come home early anyway and the house was in good condition and they think I am really nice, so they would do 5 stars.
So I gave them 4 stars because of “animal behavior” and when I saw their review I couldn’t believe it they LIED and gave me a horrible review saying I don’t know how to treat animals well or handle pressure and I was selfish and inconsiderate by making them come home from what was supposed to be a one month long sit after only a week!
I am reporting their lies to the customer service team in the hopes they will remove the review and maybe punish the hosts. I seriously don’t know how some people can say they will do one thing and do something completely different and still be able to sleep at night.
But is anything in their review a lie, actually? Even if there is, THS will do nothing.
So now, take a deep breath, and slow down, and carefully think about your response. Lucky you mentioned the barking on your review, you can build on that. You can also mention the host lying, but that is bit more difficult: you asked for a screenshot which is against the spirit of the double blind. For best results, you should just describe what happened, but what happened can also cast a negative light on you.
I am sorry that you were lied to by them, but also of course they did. You did make them cut their one month long trip short. They were absolutely furious. You effectively spoiled their holiday, and they dont want you to even again be in a position to spoil someone else’s. From their perspective you should be kicked out of the platform.
Edit: I think asking for screen shot is good. But probably no-one will send that, and they might mention it in their review as a bad thing. I think you can wait till host leaves a review, then ask if they left a good one. Then ask for the screen shot. They should be able to get it, but I am not 100% sure (meaning if they refuse it is probably a red flag, but can be fault of the platform).
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I am sorry that you had to deal with a dog barking all night but you might want to reconsider your approach to reviewing
Reviews have different categories and the standard set in each sit varies according to the agreement between both parties. The review one party writes is not meant to be written according to what the other party has written.
Has it occurred to you that you asked them for a good review and at the same time implied that you didn’t trust them, as you asked for a screenshot?
You gave 4* for pet behaviour but don’t think it was worth mentioning that HOs had to cut their holiday by 3/4 of their planned trip.
The only information I have is what you have shared on this thread but even according to your own description, they don’t seem to have lied in their review so how can you expect THS to intervene? Do you want them to remove the review because they didn’t write what they had promised? Even if you could prove that, there are no grounds for removal.
Again, I am sorry you are going through this but, given the choice, I would rather be in your position than the owners’.
Edited to add that I am a sitter.
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Yeah…you can’t demand screenshots of their review, it’s supposed to be double blind. And did you really expect a good review from this?
And this is the second time you left a sit early because of the dogs behavior?
I do think you should step back and learn from this. Maybe you just aren’t a dog person. Just look for sits with cats, many sitters do that. It will also help you with your two poor reviews if you just state you learned you are a not dog person and now only sit cats.
As for their ‘lying’ and not doing what they said they would…you did the same to them by not completing your sit. It was poor form of you to ask for a good review that clearly was not deserved.
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They lied by saying on WhatsApp that they were happy with me and the barking wasn’t my fault and they didn’t mind coming home 3 weeks early and were going to leave 5 stars. They said because they didn’t want me to leave them a negative review about the barking!
We had an afternoon for good reviews and they trucked me. I am forwarding the WhatsApp messages to THS also the ones where they offered to pay for my plane ticket I NEVER said they had to or I couldn’t go.
Also ending a sit early isn’t lying.
What do you mean THS won’t remove the review when I prove they were lying and said I was getting 5 stars but have only 1?
They have to!
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Why do they have to? Who is the judge or police that could force them?
THS have changed the system some years ago to be this double blind. They sometimes edit or even remove reviews, but the reason needs to be extremely strong. A host lying to you that they will leave a positive review is not one.
Host and sitters can lie as much as they like on THS. To prove that someone lied is very very hard, and even if you can, it is no reason to remove someone from the site or to remove a review. Even if the review itself is full of lies, that alone probably is no grounds to remove it. It probably needs to be offensive (and calling someone bad with dogs is not offensive in this sense).
This is bit hard to explain as I am not sure from which angle to start. I think you are someone who values truthfulness more than even most people. You might be someone who dislikes even “white lies”. From that perspective, and from how we are taught that “lying is wrong”, there is a certain expectation.
All in all, your opinion does not affect THS at all, and you have no power to pressure them into doing something - and the reviews are one of the things THS “sells” to its users, so to maintain the control over the reviews is extremely important to their bottom line.
THS is a game of social deceit (and social games, and social unclarity). Sometimes it is a confusion: “the dog is low maintenance”, but that is compared to their last dog, or dogs of the same breed, or for the host, but actually very high maintenance - or just straight up a lie. Your case is a clear lie (though it also could be true, if they first did think of giving you a good review, but changed their mind), but even then, there is no money back guarantee on anything someone says on THS - not even their own money back guarantee.
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I’m actually not surprised that you got one star. Self sufficiency is important as is the knowledge and experience to find solutions to problems that arise. As I’ve previously mentioned I had a barking at nighttime dog-I stayed 10 days as agreed and dealt with the issue which the HOs couldn’t have predicted. I gave you my top tips-but did you try them out at all? Pet sitting requires resilience and maturity. The HOs had no reason to say you were great when for them you certainly were not great. They obviously dissembled to avoid conflict with you. It’s lying to avoid a scene. THS will not change the Review and I would agree with this.
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Wow. I don’t want you to be right about this but I suspect that you are. I will still show the Whatsapp screenshots showing the host is lying to the customer service, and hey, you never know who might read them and be sympathetic to my case.
if I fail, I think I’m gonna be in big trouble because this is the second one star review I’ve gotten in the past few weeks. What do you think my chances are of getting sits with two 1 star reviews right next to each other even though I had really good reviews before that?
I’m just throwing my 2 cents here. You asked what your chances are for getting sits in the future…I’m a HO with an active dog, who does not bark at night, and with 2 1 star reviews for pet abandonment, I would never have you sit for me. Sorry to be harsh, but I couldn’t trust that you would want to leave my pet for some pet issue. There is no trust.
I suggest what @Felinelover suggested, do only cat sits or not do sits at all.
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I think you do have a change - I have seen sitters who have several bad reviews and still continue. I would continue applying (and not renewing but starting a new profile…). I think you might have some change at cats or something.
What are the things the hosts write you down on? Are they upset with your cleanliness? If your only real negative feedback is that you end sits, I think you have some changes. Because you do have a reason for leaving, and you have given the hosts time to return, instead of just abandoning. I dont think a dog parent will accept you, though. Most host wont.
Why do you sit? Getting an unpopular sit (unpopular location) is something you can get. But do you want to?
You can maybe find a way to answer to these reviews in a way that improves you changes, but I doubt that and there is a risk that you dig your hole deeper. You can also go proactive, and mention them in your application. But I think you now need to get several 5* reviews before most hosts would even consider you. And if you get those 5* sits, you probably can never afford another sit going short.
I am not sure if sitting really is for you: a lot of pets, cats too, disturb sleep. I am staying with a cat who wakes me up twice a night with meowing and scathing the door. I sleep again very easily, but if I did not, I would go crazy. And this is the norm. Of course dog barking is much worse.
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